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7/15/99, Updates: 7/17/99 Caution: May contain OPINIONS! May cause suffering. |
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I read today a little article in US News by John Leo that discussed the various
'stereotypes' that he found in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. This article
probably represents attempt at getting attention and selling copies of the mag, and I
respect that, but who really cares what stereotypes were in a film? Are there any films
without stereotypes? Has Leo ever heard of stock characters? We are constantly exposed to a flood of stereotypes in every film, but apparently, for some reason, Star Wars , a great action kid flick, should have been our saviour. Even the original trilogy, which our hero points to as a less stereotypical film, is full of characters which should make his thin skin quiver with stereotypical rage:
Film Stereotype: bullets sometimes don't hit their target. So, it seems that Jar Jar represents a black stereotype according to Leo. He 'knows' this apparently because he's an expert on 19th century racist caricatures. Any kid watching Star Wars will easily make the connection to 19th century racist caricatures, and, well, there goes the country--right down the tubes. He identifies the following as signs of an evil racial stereotype: clumsiness, panicing in battle, and a poor grasp of english. But these things are also stereotypes of children--not entirely unlike how kids are stereotyped as being short and as not having a whole lot of body hair. It would seem to me, independent of the intention of George Lucas, interpreting these characters as being racially stereotyped is pretty close to racial stereotyping itself. The races that these characters portray are fictional: their behavior may follow a pattern similar to the patterns other people follow, but they can't be a stereotypical message about real races--how could it affect anyone not already aware of these stereotypes? Leo claims that an assortment of certain characteristics must be matched to a certain race. If a person unaware of these stereotypes and he identifies that an obvious alien is a caricature of a human race, clearly that stereotype in some way makes a good generalization; therefore I suspect then that most people don't make any connection between these characters and actual races. The stereotyping occurs when a person links this fictional race to another real one, not when the traits of a fictional character inevitably match those of former characters. That Mr. Leo expects completely new characters with completely unique traits that have completely unique accents (unless, I suppose, they are American or British) I find incredible. The Star Wars films have always built upon historical ideas, myths, and images; the common knowledge incorporated into the Star Wars elements allow the films their widespread popularity and understanding. As for the accents the characters have, I might ask Leo what sort of accent he expects an African American voice actor to have; perhaps the black actor should have played the Neimoidians with an oriental accent, and whoever provided the 'asian accents' could have given Jar Jar his 'caribbean' accent. I also think it's important to point out that the major 'bad guys' in the film, Darth Sidious and Darth Maul (and future baddie Anakin) both have fairly neutral american/english accents. Jar Jar may be annoying, but the fact that he doesn't quite have a mastery of english, and that he's really clumsy doesn't in any way suggest that Jar Jar is supposed to represent a black person! Suggesting that Jar Jar is like a black person, however, might be considered by some to be racism. Film Stereotype: all humans with vision have eyes. I imagine that Leo's intention in producing this article was to perhaps help the film industry to produce better films, and wasn't in any way linked to the fact that Lucas is a popular guy with lots of money (while Leo, presumably isn't that well off). Leo seems to think that people will be improved by not having stereotypes of the negative kind in their films. I think that's rot. People shouldn't look to the film industry for education on these matters: they should venture forth into the real world and discover for themselves exactly how people are. If anyone believes that individuals of a culture can be judged solely upon the characteristics of that culture, that person is incredibly unobservant. If a person is offended by a set of characteristics of a fictional character of a fictional species, perhaps that person's mother simply should not let him go to the movies. |